Rickrolling

Rickrolling is an internet meme that involves playing a trick on someone by tricking them into listening to Rick Astley singing his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up". It was first seen on 4chan and is called a "bait and switch". A "bait and switch" happens when the prankster gives a website to someone saying that the website address (which is somehow hidden) is about something else. When the victim clicks the link, they see the music video and have been "rickrolled" or "rickroll'd".

As rickrolling has grown in popularity, two of the many videos online have been watched over 13 million times each.[1][2]

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Four women's basketball games at Eastern Washington University were Rickrolled in March 2008,[4] in the first photo, Davin Perry, dressed as the singer Rick Astley, performed before a basketball game. The games were not actually interrupted.

Astley recorded "Never Gonna Give You Up" in 1987 on his album Whenever You Need Somebody.[5] This song was his debut single and was a Number One hit for him on many international charts like the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and UK Top 40 charts. It was also Astley's first music video which features him performing the song while dancing.[6]

Rickrolling is said to have began as a spin-off of an earlier prank called duckrolling.,[7] which was when a link was supposed to lead to a picture or news story but would really link to an edited picture of a duck on wheels. The victim was then said to have been duckrolled. The first instance of rickrolling happened in May2007 on the 4chan video game board, where a link to the video was said to be a copy of the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. The joke was confined to 4chan for a short time.[7]

By May 2008,[8] Rickrolling had become an internet hit or phenomenon and very soon rickrolling was being covered on mainstream media.[9] A poll in April2008 by SurveyUSA guessed or estimated that at least 18 million American adults had been rickrolled.[10]

On April Fools' Day 2008 and the weeks after, many instances of Rickrolling showed up on the internet, and news media. All of the featured videos on Youtube's main page hyperlinked to the Rickroll. The prank showed up on international YouTube portals before showing up on the main page.[11]